Publication: Games, King of the Mobile Eco-system

We proudly present this month’s publication covering the Games category. We analyze the popularity of this category compared to other categories in terms of downloads and revenue. Additionally, we look at the popularity of games among app stores and countries in relation to revenue. Finally, we offer insights on the most important game genres.

All data is extracted directly from Distimo AppIQ, which provides parties with insights into the estimated downloads and revenues of all apps in the most important app stores on a daily basis.

All about the money

The vast majority of all revenue generated in the Apple App Store and Google Play came from games in September 2013. In terms of total global revenue generated by games, the Apple App Store has been taking the lead compared to the revenue of Google Play. When combining the revenue in the Apple App Store and Google Play, 63% of that revenue was generated by the Apple App Store. 92% of the revenue in the Apple App Store was generated by in-app purchases.

Looking at the Top 400 Overall Grossing, 48% of all apps in the Top Overall were games and those apps generated 92% of the revenue for Google Play in September 2013. For the Apple App Stores (average of iPhone and iPad), 52% of the apps in the Top Overall were games and these apps generated 79% of the revenue.

Market size of games across the globe

Although games are popular in all countries, revenue shares by games are dependent on country and region. Taiwan led the pack when it came to games in terms of combined revenue share – 89% of the revenue was gained by games in Google Play and 84% in the Apple App Store. Germany performed the lowest in terms of revenue share by games. Instead of spending their money on games, Germans preferred to never risk getting lost, as navigation apps were significantly more popular in Germany than in other countries. In general, Asian countries had a higher revenue share for games compared to European countries.

And there is more….

If you are curious what the download share is for games, which other categories are listed in the top 5 most downloaded categories and which game genre is generating the most revenue in the Apple App Store and Google Play, please download the full monthly report here.

Webinar

If you want to know more about games and the business opportunity of this category on Google Play, the Apple App Store and the Amazon Appstore, please join our webinar on Thursday 7th of November at 6:00 PM (CET)/ 09:00 AM (PST).